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By Baxter Holmes, Globe Staff

Rajon Rondo loves numbers and the flair for the dramatic.

And Monday night, after the Celtics lost, 104-92, to the Houston Rockets at TD Garden, the Celtics point guard tweeted a string of numbers that seemed to give a clue as to when he will make his much-anticipated season debut

Rondo, who has been sidelined all season while recovering from knee surgery, tweeted the following from his verified account: “29,233,380 secs”

That time equates to 338 days, 8 hours, and 23 minutes.

It appears to be the exact duration of time between when he had reconstructive surgery on his right knee to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament (Feb. 13, 2013) and this Friday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers at TD Garden.

In fact, Rondo appears to have have calculated the exact time between his surgery and tipoff – 11:07 a.m. on Feb 13, if you factor in Friday’s 7:30 p.m. tipoff.

It had been reported that Rondo had been targeting that date for his return, but Rondo denied it and has continued to do so, including before Monday’s game.

Rondo has only said that he planned to return before the mid-February All-Star Break.

Before the game, Celtics coach Brad Stevens didn’t offer any specific dates on when Rondo would return, but he did say that, “I get the impression it’s sooner than later.

Stevens didn’t rule out a possible return for this week, saying, “I think you could say possibly. It wouldn’t be anything where I would be speaking with certainty.”